As 2012 draws to a close, the Times-Call takes a look at the people who make our community work, 365 days a year. Today through Jan. 2, read about the people whose names and faces might not have been familiar to you, even if the jobs they do are.

"I struggled to figure out why am I here? And then you come to work and are able to do all these little things for people through the doughnut shop. Maybe that makes their day. And I think maybe that's my purpose: to make someone's day," said Allour, co-owner of Daylight Donuts, 821 Carbondale Drive in Dacono.

In 2008, Allour donated her kidney to her mother, Wilberta Fagler, who was born with polycystic kidney disease. The kidney worked until Fagler died suddenly in July 2010 from a brain hemorrhage stemming from an accidental fall.

"The hardest part was people come in. You say, 'Good morning.' They say, 'Good morning, how are you?'" Allour said. "Couldn't stand that question. I was just blown by it. Couldn't answer it. Just ignored it."

A puppy named Bailey helped with the healing. So did time. And, of course, the doughnut shop.

"The doughnut shop really helped me. It tells me I have a purpose. This is my purpose. Through the doughnut shop, I'm able to donate, to help people," Allour said.

Allour is a no-nonsense woman with a big heart. As the flour-splattered radio played Christmas music Friday morning, she busily ran around the small shop, alternately preparing food and tending to customers. She wore a threadbare apron over her T-shirt and jeans, her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. As she prepared orders, she glanced up at a clock at the front of the store to stay on track.

On a typical day, the shop sells about 700 doughnuts ---- that includes walk-in customers, special orders and contracts with area gas stations.

"It would not be out of the normal for me to sell out," Allour said. "And the most heartbreaking thing is when a little kid comes in and there are no doughnuts."

Linda Allour and her husband of 16 years, Patrick, 54, bought Daylight Donuts in October 2002.

Aside from two part-time employees, the couple, who live in Johnstown, run the entire business. Patrick works seven days a week, and Linda is on for six, though she spends her Sunday off doing bookkeeping.

Linda Allour feeds crumbs to sparrows that arrive on the doorstep of her business, She and her husband have owned the shop since 2002.
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LEWIS GEYER
)

While Patrick Allour arrives at work in the afternoon and works through the night, his wife comes in at about 3:30 and works for 12 to 13 hours. Except on holidays, the couple see each other only in the precious moments when their shifts overlap.

That part of the job, Linda acknowledged, is difficult. The couple's work and sleep schedules are polar opposites.

"You know, we both sleep in the same spot in the bed, next to the nightstand," she said.

Allour calls herself Dacono's concierge. She's only half joking. A bulletin board in the shop is designated a city of Dacono "official posting site," and holds the city's calendar and new ordinances. Need a good electrician? Want to know when the parade starts? Chances are Allour knows.

When a man from Parker stopped at the shop and realized he had locked his keys in his car, she called the local salvage yard for help. In exchange, she gave them a dozen doughnuts.

"Doughnut are magic," she said, grinning as she recalled the story.

Allour knows her regulars -- and their orders.

Even though the shop doesn't open until 5 a.m., regular Robert Martinez of Dacono stopped by at about 4:40 a.m. Friday.

"It's a pretty good place to come to," he said after picking up a cinnamon roll on his way to work. "It's usually where we hang out, the guys."

At 5:05 a.m. Friday, Janie and Danny Turner of Fort Lupton walked into the shop. Most Friday mornings, the retired couple meet their daughter, who lives in Firestone, for breakfast at the shop before she goes to work in Fort Collins.

"This early in the morning, there are no calories," Janie Turner chuckled after paying for a chocolate raised doughnut.

Later in the morning, Firestone resident Jeff Jurgena picked up three dozen doughnuts for his crew at a heavy equipment company in Commerce City.

"They get mad if I don't bring them," he joked with another customer in line.

Giving back is big for the Allours. For her 50th birthday, Linda Allour requested her customers bring 50 toys for the Santa Cops program. She got 90, all of which went to underprivileged children in Dacono. The couple also donates day-old baked goods to a handful of local senior centers. Sometimes, doughnuts go to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless.

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